This afternoon at Citi Field, Omar Minaya addressed the media, and according to SNY’s Matt Dunn, said the following:

Regarding Ruben Tejada, Minaya feels that despite Luis Castillo’s contract status, he wants Tejada to have the opportunity to play.

Minaya still thinks the team is in the playoff race, and says they are trying to win games and hopefully they have a run in them down the stretch.

On why Fernando Martinez was called up when he was, Minaya said he was hot at Triple-A at the time, and considering the big league club wasn’t scoring runs, he felt the team couldn’t sit still and not bring him up.

Minaya says he looks at the waiver wire every day, and is looking for “situations” that pop up that can improve the team, but is realistic in terms of the standings before contemplating a move.

Minaya said they talked about Jon Niese and potentially limiting his innings, but he feels comfortable with where he is right now and didn’t indicate they were going to shut him down at some point.

Minaya knows he has a job to do, but given it’s New York and what has happened, especially last year, he knows the issue over his job security will pop up.

They have talked about who they might call up when rosters expand next week, but don’t have an announcement as of yet.

There is still no update on Jason Bay.

Minaya is very pleased with the progress of Josh Thole, especially his defense, and says they want him to catch on a regular basis.

Minaya feels Jeff Francoeur can get better in a lot of areas, but feels he has contributed and hopes he continues to contribute.